Frontier Notebook: Frontier stacked with ranked teams

Shockers are becoming the norm it seems in the Frontier Conference. Three weeks into the 2016 season, and there’s just one unbeaten team left, and it’s not league favorites Southern Oregon, Carroll College or Montana Tech.

No, it’s Eastern Oregon that is the only team left in the Frontier that has a chance to run the table after the Mounties have beaten SOU and UM-Western to start the season.

For a brief moment, the team most likely to run the table looked to be the Fighting Saints. After an abysmal 2015 campaign, Carroll opened the season with a last-second win over Montana Tech Sept. 3. But, what goes around comes around, and this past Saturday, Carroll couldn’t pull off a last-second miracle again, in a 21-20 loss at Rocky Mountain College.

So three weeks in and it’s Eastern Oregon at the top of the heap. The Mounties have been impressive for sure, as they raced past upstart UM-Western 35-23 last Saturday, knocking the Bulldogs from the unbeaten's.

Rocky, too, has been impressive, with its lone loss coming at the hands of NCAA Divison I Northern Colorado two weeks ago. So, that now begs the question: Are the Mounties and Battlin’ Bears the teams to beat in the Frontier?

Obviously, it’s too early to tell, but one thing is for certain, with a record six Frontier teams ranked in the NAIA Coaches Poll this week, the parity in the conference might be at an all-time high.

Same song, different verse

Last Saturday, the Montana State University-Northern Lights walked into a buzzsaw for Montana Tech’s home-opener in Butte. Tech, a popular pick to make a run at an NAIA national championship this season, had just lost on a last-second field goal to Carroll Sept. 3, and was certainly hungry against the Lights.

And though Northern hung tough in Alumni Coliseum, Tech’s desire to not start 0-2 showed, as the Diggers’ scored 14 quick points to start the game, and closed with 21 unanswered points in the second half.

Now, Northern comes back to Blue Pony Stadium, but the Lights, who have played very well in stretches the first two games, have to face an angry Carroll squad coming off a disheartening loss at RMC last Saturday.

Northern hasn’t beaten Carroll since the famous 2006 contest in Havre when the Lights knocked off then No. 1 Carroll 10-7, in what many consider the biggest win in MSU-N history. And now, MSU-N will try and end that long losing streak against a Carroll team that’s wounded after losing at Rocky, and, one that has a stingy defense, but, an offense that hasn’t fully gotten on track yet behind new senior quarterback J.T. Linder. Carroll comes into Saturday’s tilt in Havre averaging just 21 points per game, and scoring was something the Saints struggled with a year ago.

Still, despite the loss to Rocky, and an offense that is still finding its way, Northern head coach Aaron Christensen isn’t expecting anything less than Carroll’s best.

“Carroll will always be Carroll,” Christensen said. “They are extremely well-coached, they are fundamentally sound, and they will be very physical. They make you have to play mistake-free football, and if you don’t they really wear you down.”

Don’t count them out

Southern Oregon might be a shocking 0-2 to start the season, but, the Raiders didn’t look like a Frontier Conference cellar dweller last Saturday night in Davis, California.

SOU’s offense game Big Sky Conference member UC Davis all it could handle last Saturday, ringing up 35 points and over 600 yards of total offense. Quarterback Tanner Trosin threw for 428 yards, and if the SOU defense wasn’t so overmatched, the Raiders easily could have made the Aggies sweat the game out even more.

And while the season-opening loss to arch rival EOU is the one that really stings for the Raiders, offensively, the rest of the Frontier needs to watch out. Trosin has already thrown for nearly 800 yards this season, and wide receiver Matt Retzlaff is putting up video-game like numbers. Rey Vega also is looking good at running back, and if SOU’s young defense can find its way, it won’t take very many weeks for them to climb right back into the heart of the Frontier title chase.

So, a fair warning to the rest of the Frontier — don’t be too quick to count the Raiders out.

Frontier Honors

Southern Oregon wide receiver Zach Davis has been named the league’s Offensive Player of the Week. In SOU’s loss at UC Davis, he caught four passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns. Also nominated; Beau Brekke of Montana Western, Calvin Connors of Eastern Oregon, Tyler Cox of College of Idaho, Kyle Griffith of Carroll College, Zach McKinley of MSU-Northern, Quinn McQueary of Montana Tech and Jayce Van Zee of Rocky Mountain College.

Montana Tech safety Gunnar Kayser has been named the Defensive Player of the Week. In Tech’s 35-10 win over Northern, Kayser recorded seven solo tackles, four assisted tackles, two tackles for loss (-6), two pass break-ups and one interception returned 35-yards for a touchdown. Also nominated; Patrick Barnett of MSU-Northern, T.J. Benson of Montana Western, Vince DiGiallonardo of Carroll College, Justin Hughes of Eastern Oregon, Carlos Murana of College of Idaho and Seth Swandal of Rocky Mountain.

Rocky Mountain College’s Keenan Fagan was named Special Teams Player of the Week. In RMC’s win over Carroll, Fagan blocked a punt, leading to the game-winning touchdown. He also had four tackles, one sack and one forced fumble. Also nominated; Nathan Harden of Eastern Oregon, Derrick Holt of Montana Tech, Tommy Langley of MSU-Northern, Kyle Mitchell of College of Idaho and Dylan Torgerson of Carroll College.